Best Bird of the Weekend (Last of November 2013)

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can ease up on the turkey talk. I do regret that I saw no Wild Turkeys this weekend, only subdued, succulently prepared ones. How about you?

Corey had way too many birds to choose from for his Best Bird of the Weekend, with exactly 100 species for the four-day weeekend. Nonetheless, he had to choose one, so he went with Boreal Chickadee, of which he saw two in the Adirondacks on Friday. On Saturday, Corey and I searched Jones Beach for rarities, walking away with both a Snowy Owl and a Northern Shrike. The owl wasn’t really that rare, considering how many have been seen in New York over this past weekend. The shrike, on the other hand, is a species I’ve seen only a few times and thus earns the honor of my Best Bird of the Weekend.

How about you? What was your best bird of the weekend?Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.

Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.

I saw a pair of Ladder-backed Woodpeckers at my local State Park in Dallas, on the far eastern edge of their area. But more exciting to me is that I saw a (lifer!) female Red-headed Woodpecker at another Dallas park on Saturday, on the western edge of their area. I guess woodpeckers from the whole country are finding Dallas a great place to visit!

@Peter Thoem: Your “fake” Canvasbacks were quite an interesting find. Hope no live ones came to join them.

As for me, undoubtedly my Best Bird of the Week (beating a female Black Scoter hanging out on the edge of Lake Michigan:
Sand. Hill. Cranes. 1000s of them, at Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area in Indiana. !!!!!